Foxes are known to raid henhouses
. But this raid, on an outdoor zoo yard housing dozens of bright pink flamingos unable to fly away, was many times worse.
The zoo attack is the worst such incident at the zoo in 20 years. In 2002 and 2003, a string of animal raids — also by foxes — led to the deaths of more than a dozen ducks, a peacock and an elderly bald eagle. Zoo officials instituted new security measures in response to those attacks, and those barriers have largely held firm until now.
To a fox, a flamingo is “like a chicken with longer legs and a different color,” Dan Rauch, the city’s wildlife biologist, told The Washington Post. The ones at the zoo have their wings clipped and cannot fly away.
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